Bernanke Makes Clear No Tapering Near

In unscripted remarks, the Fed chief pushes back notion of imminent reduction of bond buying.

Watch what they do, not what they say. In years past, the best way to judge the Federal Reserve's monetary policy was to invoke the dictum famously put forth by John Mitchell, President Richard Nixon's Attorney General. But now, what Fed officials say is as important as what they do as forward guidance has become a key policy tool.

And so, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's unscripted question-and-answer session after a speech Wednesday to the National Bureau of Economic Research was especially revealing. In it, he made it...